SPILL FEATURE: IT WAS TRULY MAYHEM & REVELRY – A CONVERSATION WITH DIRTY HONEY’S MARC LABELLE & JOHN NOTTO

IT WAS TRULY MAYHEM & REVELRY

A CONVERSATION WITH DIRTY HONEY’S MARC LABELLE & JOHN NOTTO

Dirty Honey are, without a doubt, one of the most exciting rock bands to emerge in the last decade. In that time, the band has released numerous singles, an EP, and a pair of studio albums. Additionally, the band has shared the stage with legends ranging from The Black Crowes to Guns N’ Roses, all the while remaining impressively independent of a record label. Their latest release, Mayhem & Revelry Live, documents their most recent North American and European tour in support of their 2023 album, Can’t Find The Brakes. Lead singer Marc LaBelle and guitarist John Notto share the story behind their debut live album and the tour in which it came from. 

Mayhem & Revelry Live was released on February 21^st. As Labelle tells me, “We put a ton of work into putting it together and we’re super proud of it – it’s nice to have it out, it’s been super well received, and we’ve been somewhat giddy about it since the release.” He adds, “It’s been a really cool revelation to see that people still care about live recordings.” Throughout its 16 tracks, Mayhem & Revelry captures the excitement and the raw energy of a Dirty Honey show. LaBelle states, “That was the goal, to shed some light on who we are as a live band for people who haven’t seen us and give the fans who are well familiar with us a treat. I think the energy, somehow, is well captured on this double LP, and that was what we were really striving for.” While out on the road, promoting Can’t Find The Brakes, the band had not intended to emerge from the tour with a live record, “We just started recording shows and we sort of came to a point where it was like ‘we’re pretty fucking good!’” Labelle laughs. He continues, “I remember listening back to a show in Indianapolis. It was a fun show, a packed little room, the energy was really high. I remembered thinking, ‘We’re playing pretty good tonight!’ and I listened back the next day; it was fucking good. I sent it to everyone, and it was like, ‘We’re not too bad at this anymore.’ We started compiling these shows and it became pretty evident we should do a live record.” He adds, “I remember feeling like we can achieve this in an authentic way, where it’s 1 100 percent live.”

As the tour continued, the band began to grow an archive of nearly 65 shows. When describing the process to selecting tracks for the record, Notto explains, “You have to prioritize people in the band. The first is Marc and how he’s singing – there were some ways he would determine that… Everyone has to take some concessions; we’re not a band that plays to tracks or plays to a click, and we aren’t a band that just stands there. We all need to accept a little bit of, at least for me, Jimmy Page-styled imperfections. With that said, there’s better nights than others; the slop is just right, the extra hooks that you put in are a little more anointed than the others.” This is where Dirty Honey have found their sound that makes for such an impressive live performance, Notto elaborates, “That’s how our heroes played. The people we listen to didn’t do that, so, in a way, we’re like stuck in a time warp where we’re competing with people from forever ago. We’re not trying to compete with how a lot of rock bands do it now.” He continues, “We had to realise that we’re actually really good… At first we were very critical of our playing, and we realised we were being critical of the technical imperfections, tempos, or ‘This isn’t exactly how it goes on the record,’ but it kept ringing in my head, ‘Everyone thinks we’re better live though,’ so they must not be hearing the music this way, so maybe it would behoove us to judge it differently. When we started going more with swag and energy, and no glaring mess ups, I think that’s how we came to the decisions you hear on the record.”

MAYHEM & REVELRY LIVE ALBUM REVIEW

With both LaBelle and Notto citing live albums from Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Kiss, and Aerosmith, among others, as inspiration behind their approach to Mayhem & Revelry, the album follows in the tradition of breathing new life into their body of work. Labelle states, “You listen to Zeppelin or Aerosmith, AC/DC, The Stones – there’s so much swag in those live records. There’s a new take, a fresh take on the songs; I think that’s what you’re always going for, and obviously portraying your musicianship on a live record is an important aspect of it.” As such, no show truly remains the same; however, one in particular stood out to LaBelle, “We had sold out the Moulin Rouge and this fucking Parisian crowd was just insane. It was just a night that had all of the things, like passionate, excited crowds singing along with you, mosh pits, John crowd surfing, them really just falling in love with the ballad ‘You Make It Alright’ – that’s the version that made it on the record. It was magical on so many levels and such a wild ride of a live show. We haven’t played a ton in France, but it was truly mayhem and revelry, it was chaotic but celebratory, it was all the things you want to see at a show.”

Since The Black Crowes tour in ’21, it’s been a steady diet of six weeks touring, six weeks rest almost straight, Notto tells me. Never a band to remain still for long, he teases, “Releasing a live record now, we’d love to be on the road promoting it, but we’re starting to work on the next record.” In addition to this, LaBelle remarks on some of the songs that did not make the cut for Mayhem & Revelry, “There’s a version of ‘Gypsy’ kicking around… That’s probably the biggest example for me of a song that took on a life of its own on the live recording – obviously that’s not out, but I think that will come out in the future.” As the band continues forward, Mayhem & Revelry Live is yet another demonstration of fervor surrounding Dirty Honey as they continue to raise the bar for independent artists and new rock bands alike. 

Listen to the full, unabridged conversation, including their favorite cuts from Mayhem & Revelry, their thoughts on remaining an independent band, and their desert island records, on Episode 41 of Beats By Ger on Spotify and YouTube.

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